Beautiful, delicious and full of heart – these raspberry & chocolate Valentine’s cupcakes are the perfect way to share your love. With moist raspberry cupcakes, a raspberry jam centre, and topped with a luxurious chocolate buttercream frosting. Plus, they’re easy to make!
Are you a fan of Valentine’s Day? Feel free to say no – I know I’m pretty indifferent about the whole affair, myself. I’ve always thought that the spontaneous expression of love is so much more meaningful than a bouquet of roses on the 14th of February.
But anyway, Valentine’s Day or not, cupcakes are always welcome, even when decorated with heart-shaped cookies. (Or, maybe, especially then.)
These raspberry & chocolate Valentine’s cupcakes combine two of the best flavours out there. The bittersweetness of chocolate and the refreshing tartness of raspberries – which perfectly complement each other.
First, we’ve got the raspberry cupcakes themselves – flavoured (and coloured) with a raspberry reduction and some beetroot powder for an extra natural colour boost. You can, of course, use a pink food colouring, but I’ve always preferred natural alternatives myself.
The cupcakes are moist, delicate and fluffy – just how we like them. The raspberry flavour comes through beautifully, especially in combination with the raspberry jam centre.
There’s something magical about biting into a gorgeous cupcake, only to discover it’s hiding a delicious secret – an oozing centre of raspberry (or chocolate) goodness.
You can either use a raspberry jam, maybe spruced up with a squeeze of lemon juice to make it more refreshing, or the raspberry reduction with a spoonful of powdered sugar stirred into it.
And then, to top it all off: the most decadent, luscious, luxurious chocolate buttercream frosting. This is my go-to recipe that I use all the time – in my ultimate gluten free chocolate cake, in the triple chocolate cupcakes… and it’s PERFECT every single time.
It also pipes beautifully – here, I’ve used the Wilton 2D piping nozzle, with creates a gorgeous swirl on top of the cupcake. Seriously, look how glossy and elegant and just plain beautiful it is!!!
As a finishing touch, a sprinkling of crushed freeze-dried raspberries as a pretty pink dusting on top of the rich buttercream swirls, and a heart-shaped cookie – these are, after all, romantic Valentine’s Day cupcakes.
Now, I’ve had some heart-shaped sugar cookies on hand. They are simple gluten free sugar cookies with either cocoa powder or raspberry reduction + beetroot powder added, rolled out, cut in the shape of a heart and baked.
If you don’t feel like making these, for whatever reason, you can use heart-shaped chocolate decorations, or even pink-coloured marzipan cut out in the shape of a heart. Go crazy, and cutesy, and even a bit kitschy. Just… enjoy it and have fun.
So here we are. Romantic, delicious and beautiful, these raspberry & chocolate Valentine’s cupcakes are perfect for any time of the year, not just the 14th of February. Make them for your loved ones, or even just for yourself – after all, cupcakes sound like the perfect way to show some self-love.
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Raspberry & Chocolate Valentine’s Cupcakes (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
For raspberry cupcakes:
- 2 cups (225 g) raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 4 medium egg whites, room temperature
- 4 tbsp (60 g) yogurt or sour cream
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) milk, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
- 2 cups + 3 tbsp (265 g) plain gluten free flour blend (I've used a simple shop-bought blend containing only rice, potato and maize flour with no added xanthan gum)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp beetroot powder (optional for a more intense pink colour)
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 sticks (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
For chocolate buttercream frosting:
- 3 sticks (340 g) softened unsalted butter
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered/icing sugar
- 1/2 cup (60 g) cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 1/4 oz (150 g) dark chocolate, melted and cooled until warm/room temperature
For assembling and decorating the cupcakes:
- ~3 - 4 tbsp raspberry jam
- freeze-dried raspberries
- heart-shaped cookies or other decorations of choice
Instructions
For raspberry cupcakes:
- First, make the raspberry reduction:In a small saucepan, cook the raspberries on medium-high heat until they have released their juice and part of the liquid has evaporated.Pass the raspberry mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and skin.Return the raspberry juice to the saucepan and cook further until it has decreased in volume to about 5 - 6 tbsp.Allow to cool.
- Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line the cupcake baking tin with cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, mix together the egg whites, yogurt or sour cream, milk, raspberry reduction and vanilla paste. Set aside.
- Sift together the gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder and beetroot powder. Add in the sugar and salt, and mix well.
- Add the softened butter to the dry ingredients. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer with the double beater attachment, whisk the butter into the dry ingredients until you get small, pea-sized pieces.
- Add the milk+egg mixture and whisk until you get a smooth cupcake batter.
- Evenly distribute the cupcake batter among the cupcake cases – they should be each about 3/4 filled.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 20 - 22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool.
For chocolate buttercream frosting:
- In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, or using a hand mixer with the double beater attachments, beat the butter for 2 - 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar, and beat for a further 5 minutes.
- Add the cocoa powder and salt, and beat until evenly distributed in the buttercream.
- Add in the melted (and cooled) dark chocolate, and beat until you get a rich, fluffy chocolate frosting with an even chocolate brown colour.
Assembling the cupcakes:
- Use an apple corer or a piping nozzle, turned upside-down, to create a hole in the middle of each cupcake. Fill it with the raspberry jam.
- Pipe the chocolate buttercream frosting with piping nozzle of choice (I used a Wilton 2D nozzle).
- Sprinkle with crushed freeze-dried raspberries, and top with heart-shaped pink cookies or other decorations of choice.
- Enjoy!
Storage:
- The raspberry & chocolate Valentine's cupcakes keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 2 - 3 days.
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